Transformers: Age of Extinction — How Irish Actor Jack Reynor Landed A Lead Role
While Michael Bay is enjoying the (surprising) critical success of Pain & Gain, his next movie will return the action director to his one and only franchise, Transformers. The fourth installment in the film series, Age of Extinction, is a complete re-launch of the existing film trilogy. It will introduce new Autobots such as the Dinobots and new Decepticons like the film’s villain Cyclonus. Michael Bay’s new movie will also introduce a new human cast, including Irish actor Jack Reynor.
While Jack Reyner is mostly unknown, Bay selected the 23-year-old actor based on his performance in the Irish movie What Richard Did. Reynor played the film’s titular character, Richard Karlsen, a star athlete whose promising career comes to an end when he assaults a rival. Apparently, Bay was so drawn by Reynor’s performance in the film that he had to cast him in a leading role in Age of Extinction.
As Reynor was shooting the film remake Delivery Man for Canadian director Ken Scott, based on Scott’s own French-Canadian film Starbuck, the 43-year-old director told The Herald about Reynor getting the call to be in Transformers 4.
We all knew when we were shooting Delivery Man that he [Jack] had done a couple of screen tests and auditions for Transformers, every day we would say: ‘Any news?’ Jack was actually on set one night, Michael Bay [the director of Transformers] called and he stepped off set to take the call.
Everyone was looking through a window, like eager fathers awaiting the birth of their new son, and he came back in and said, ‘I got it’. There was a little bit of a party that night.
The article from The Herald also reveals that Reynor signed a three-picture deal with Paramount Pictures and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. So that means Transformers 5 and 6 shouldn’t be too far behind Age of Extinction.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Jack Reynor performs in his first big-budget movie. Say what you will about Michael Bay, but a lot of top-notch actors appear in his films, including John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro, Ed Harris, and Will Smith. Originally, Australian actor Brenton Thwaites was cast to play the character Shane Dyson (Tessa’s racecar driving boyfriend), but Michael Bay re-cast the role with Jack Reynor early in the film’s development.
Recently, star Mark Wahlberg talked about his character and why he wanted to be in the new Transformers movie. Wahlberg plays Cade Yeager, an inventor who comes to meet the Autobots. Cade is also a single father trying to raise his teenage daughter Tessa, played by Nicola Peltz. According to Wahlberg, He had such a good experience working with Michael Bay on Pain & Gain that he decided to team up again on Transformers. If Transformers 5 and 6 do become a reality, Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, and Jack Reynor could be the new faces of the franchise. Now we can all forget about Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox.
Age of Extinction takes place four years after Dark of the Moon and centers on an inventor named Cade, his teenage daughter Tessa, and her boyfriend Shane, as they “discover a buried Transformer which sets the stage for the return of the rest of the Transformers.” The film also stars Stanley Tucci, Sophia Myles, T.J. Miller, Victoria Summer, Li Bingbing, Titus Welliver, Kelsey Grammer, and Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime.
Transformers: Age of Extinction hits theaters everywhere on June 27, 2014, in 3D and IMAX. You can watch the trailer for What Richard Did below (you might want to cue up the subtitles):
